ALBANY — Mayor Jerry Jennings gave nonunion city employees a little more to be thankful for last week.

On Wednesday afternoon, Jennings asked city lawmakers to amend his proposed 2013 budget to include 2.5 percent raises for all nonunion workers — a move he said was only fair given recent contract settlements with other union workers.

Budget Director Christopher Hearley said the change would cost the city $286,000 more next year but will not increase the city's tax levy, which is the amount of money the city collects from property taxpayers to fund government.

Instead, Jennings proposes taking the money from a contingency fund.

The mayor's request comes on the heels of the Common Council's approval last week of new contracts with the city's blue collar workers and police patrol unions, which come with 3 percent and 2.5 percent raises next year respectively. Those contracts cover as many as 542 city workers and were not yet in place when Jennings proposed his budget Oct. 1.

Council Finance Committee Chairman James Sano said he was already in the process of raising the issue of pay increases for nonunion workers with Jennings' administration because council members also viewed it as an issue of fairness.

Nonunion workers received 3 percent raises this year, the first pay increase for some of them since 2008.

The Common Council is expected to vote on Jennings' budget — including the separation of code enforcement from the fire department and creation of a newly independent Department of Buildings and Regulatory Compliance — at a special meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

Lawmakers are also proposing several other changes to Jennings' budget — most notably a reversal of the mayor's plan to consolidate the Department of Administrative Services with the Law Department.

Administrative Services oversees human resources, purchasing and equal opportunity programs, but the commissioner's post has remained vacant since 2008, with much of the work being performed by a deputy corporation counsel.

Jennings proposed continuing that arrangement — though he stopped short of introducing legislation to formally eliminate the department. The council, however, has long called for the commissioner's post to be filled in part to show the city is committed to minority recruitment in the police and fire departments.

The proposal backed by the finance committee fully funds the commissioner's $83,000 annual salary. But Jennings' administration has questioned whether the council has the authority to increase that salary. And even if that change is approved by the full council, there is no guarantee Jennings would hire somebody to fill the position.

The council also plans to add a new information clerk to the city clerk's office to handle additional work created by the new permit parking and cabaret licensing systems. That post would pay $31,365, Sano said.

None of the council's proposed additions — some $521,000, including the raises — would affect the budget's tax levy. Most of the money would be taken from the city's contingency account, with the rest covered by projected increases in revenue.

Even with no increase in the city's tax levy, however, the proposed budget is still projected to increase homeowners' tax bills by about 3 percent due to the city's dual tax rate for commercial and residential properties and changes in the relative values of those two property classes. That change is dictated by a complex state formula.

It would amount to about $49 more next year for a home assessed at $150,000, Jennings' administration has said. Owners of so-called non-homestead properties will see their taxes decrease.